According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the con artist, posing as a British
citizen working on a Scottish oil rig, persistently pursued the
66-year-old victim, repeatedly calling her at her San Jose, California home, and sending her texts and flowers. Eventually, he asked her for a loan for a non-existent business, even going so far as to make a fake website.

The woman, whose name was not released,
agreed and gave him money from her retirement account, including one
lump sum of $200,000 which she wired to a Turkish bank account last
year. Shortly after that payment, she became concerned that she'd be
scammed and alerted prosecutors in Santa Clara County, who contacted her
bank.

Wisdom Onokpite, an aquaintence of the
fraudster, was arrested by Turkish police when he attempted to withdraw the
money and is being prosecuted with fraud.

The actual fraudster's identity is still unknown, though his Skype and email accounts were
traced to Nigeria.